Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank Has $5.13 Million Stock Holdings in Assurant, Inc. (NYSE:AIZ)

Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank boosted its stake in Assurant, Inc. (NYSE:AIZ) by 12.0% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 25,776 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 2,753 shares during the period. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank’s holdings in Assurant were worth $5,126,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Mizuho Securities USA LLC grew its position in shares of Assurant by 11,480.4% in the third quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 464,952 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $92,460,000 after purchasing an additional 460,937 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Assurant by 32.5% in the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,041,678 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $173,179,000 after purchasing an additional 255,471 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in Assurant in the 3rd quarter valued at $284,730,000. TD Asset Management Inc increased its position in Assurant by 20.4% during the 2nd quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 566,123 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $94,118,000 after buying an additional 96,021 shares during the period. Finally, FMR LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Assurant by 6.0% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,163,593 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $231,392,000 after buying an additional 65,874 shares in the last quarter. 92.65% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently commented on the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on shares of Assurant from $194.00 to $212.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Assurant from $217.00 to $224.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, September 23rd. StockNews.com downgraded Assurant from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Truist Financial lifted their price objective on Assurant from $220.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, Piper Sandler increased their target price on Assurant from $200.00 to $217.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $225.20.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Biju Nair sold 3,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $209.18, for a total transaction of $627,540.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 20,658 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,321,240.44. This represents a 12.68 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.53% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Assurant Stock Down 0.6 %

Shares of AIZ opened at $225.76 on Tuesday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $204.02 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $186.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40, a current ratio of 0.42 and a quick ratio of 0.42. Assurant, Inc. has a one year low of $160.12 and a one year high of $230.55. The company has a market cap of $11.58 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.10 and a beta of 0.57.

Assurant (NYSE:AIZ) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The financial services provider reported $3.00 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.52 by $0.48. The company had revenue of $2.97 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.94 billion. Assurant had a return on equity of 17.42% and a net margin of 6.31%. Assurant’s revenue was up 7.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $4.29 EPS. Research analysts forecast that Assurant, Inc. will post 15.41 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Assurant Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 9th will be issued a $0.80 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 9th. This represents a $3.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.42%. This is a boost from Assurant’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.72. Assurant’s dividend payout ratio is 22.82%.

Assurant Company Profile

Assurant, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, provides business services that supports, protects, and connects consumer purchases in North America, Latin America, Europe, and the Asia Pacific. The company operates through two segments: Global Lifestyle and Global Housing. The Global Lifestyle segment offers mobile device solutions, and extended service contracts and related services for consumer electronics and appliances, and credit and other insurance products; and vehicle protection, commercial equipment, and other related services.